Baghdad: Sunni ministers 'unqualified'

By Cernig

What a surprise! UPI reports that the Iraqi government has turned down all of the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front's candidates for ministries because they were "unqualified."

IAF chairman Adnan al-Duleimai nominated five ministers April 17 to serve in the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, following a nine-month boycott.

The IAF and several other parties withdrew from the Maliki government in August over differences in political and security issues.

"The Iraqi government has reservations concerning the nominees suggested by the IAF to occupy ministerial positions, as they are unqualified," spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.

Dabbagh said the refusal was not based on partisan or sectarian differences. He expressed hope the IAF would continue to work on submitting qualified nominees to join the central government, Voices of Iraq said Monday.

Being qualified as an Iraqi minister is a very low bar indeed. We've seen an oil minister with no knowledge of the industry and who was found guilty of bank fraud, a corrupt defense minister who had previously run a London corner store...you get the picture.

But the Sunni nominees qualifiacations are just a smokescreen. Having grabbed Western headlines with the news that the Sunnis were returning to the fold at a moment (post-Basra) when he really needed to make a show of his being more than just a self-interested hack, Maliki can now take all the time he needs putting roadblocks in the way of their actual return. Eventually, the Sunnis will get pissed off and withdraw again - and get the blame in the Western press for not doing enough for reconcilliation. So it goes.